The Kentucky Derby features 3-year-olds covering 1 1/4 miles. Post time for the 143rd edition is scheduled for 6:34 p.m. NBC Sports' telecast begins at 2:30. It will be live-streamed on NBC Sports.com Live.

The favorite has won the Kentucky Derby in each of the past four years.

Former Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Robert Jackson owns a small piece of Always Dreaming, who won the Florida Derby on April 1 in his stakes debut. Todd Pletcher is the trainer and John Velasquez the jockey.

As of late Friday night, the only horses in the field of 20 with single-digit odds were Always Dreaming (9-2), Irish War Cry (5-1), McCraken (6-1), Classic Empire (7-1) and Gunnevera (9-1).

Sentimental favorite Patch, starting from the No. 20 post, was 13-1. He lost his left eye because of an infection. (He was named Patch before the loss of the eye.) He is trained by Pletcher.

This year's Kentucky Derby will take place without the white-haired wonder, trainer Bob Baffert, in a significant role. He does not have a horse in the race. A Baffert entry has won the Kentucky Derby four times.

Editor's note: As a student at Northwestern University in 1989, I was fortunate to have joined several friends on a trip to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby. We watched from the infield as Sunday Silence won.

I encourage anyone who has not attended a Derby: Try your best to get there, because it is a spectacle. The surge of energy in the facility is palpable as Derby post time approaches. (It is not the only race that day.)

And if you do attend, proceed with caution around the much-hyped Mint Julep. Its taste is not for the faint of gut.